It was a rare spectacular day amid Chicago’s typically bone-chilling winter.

With the temperatures tipping into the low 60s, Hadiya Pendleton and about a dozen friends headed to Harsh Park on Jan. 29, 2013, after finishing final exams at King College Prep, a selective-enrollment high school in the Kenwood neighborhood.

A 15-year-old majorette, Hadiya had just returned from performing at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration festivities with her classmates. Her tests were done for the day, and her elite school had let out early.

“She had so much to look forward to at that moment,” her cousin, Shatira Wilks, told the Chicago Tribune on Thursday. “And it was all just taken away.”

Hadiya was fatally shot in the back as she and her classmates ran for cover when gunfire erupted at the park. Her death — which took place about a mile away from Obama’s Chicago home — quickly came to symbolize the city’s unceasing gun violence and the horror some of its residents face on a daily basis.

On Friday, more than 5½ years after her slaying, jury selection is finally scheduled to get underway for Micheail Ward, identified by prosecutors as the gunman, and Kenneth Williams, the alleged driver of the getaway car.

The two reputed gang members were charged with Hadiya’s killing in what Cook County prosecutors allege was a botched attempt at retaliation in the midst of a lengthy war between rival factions of the Gangster Disciples.

Two juries need to be picked for the approximately two-week trial at the Leighton Criminal Court Building because of the defendants’ competing defenses.

Some of Hadiya’s classmates who huddled with her under a canopy at the park to escape the rain could testify. Prosecutors say the two defendants mistook them for rival gang members. Two were also wounded by the gunfire.

Lawyers for the two defendants call the state’s evidence deeply flawed and note that no physical evidence ties either defendant to the killing.

The case has progressed slowly even by Cook County’s glacial standards. Ward switched lawyers about halfway through, slowing the pace of the proceedings. And some legal issues have proved particularly thorny, requiring extensive time to litigate.

In the meantime, Hadiya’s family has spearheaded anti-violence efforts across the city, and her parents, Nathaniel and Cleopatra Pendleton, have pushed for gun control on some of the biggest national stages. They are expected to attend the trial.

“We have made sure Hadiya’s legacy is one of peace,” Wilks said. “But don’t mistake that for (acceptance). We are still a family that has been ripped apart by tragedy. We still have anger. We still want justice to be held.”

In this interrogation video, Micheail Ward breaks down crying as he alleges a higher-ranking gang member ordered him to open fire into a South Side park and threatened to kill him if he didn’t do so. Warning: Graphic language. (Cook County court records)

In this interrogation video, Micheail Ward breaks down crying as he alleges a higher-ranking gang member ordered him to open fire into a South Side park and threatened to kill him if he didn’t do so. Warning: Graphic language. (Cook County court records)

A video-recorded confession

The prosecution case against Ward centers on his video-recorded confession, obtained by detectives working around the clock as the 18-year-old sat in a tiny, windowless room.

At first, Ward offered an alibi that he was picking up his younger brother from school at the time of Hadiya’s slaying.

His resolve did not appear to weaken until he was confronted with a still photo taken from video footage near the shooting scene — appearing to show Ward switching seats with Williams and getting into the driver’s seat of his mother’s white Nissan shortly after the shooting. Authorities have alleged that Ward had earlier been in the passenger seat to carry out the attack; Williams remained in the car.

Eventually, Ward tearfully admitted he shot into the park at what he believed to be rival gang members only because Williams threatened to kill him if he didn’t.

“I didn't want to do that s---, man. I liked that girl,” Ward, who knew Hadiya from elementary school dances, said in a high-pitched voice.

The video-recorded confession — a copy of which was obtained by the Tribune in 2016 — provides an illuminating look at how police obtain confessions.

At one point, Ward talked out loud to himself after detectives had stepped from the room.

“This is just sad for you,” he said. “F----- up through these decisions I’ve made.”

Ward’s lawyers have unsuccessfully tried to get the confession thrown out, alleging that detectives psychologically manipulated him into making a false statement.

“(Ward) told them exactly what they told him to say,” his lead lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Julie Koehler, said at a hearing last year. “It makes him desperate to someday walk out of jail. … It doesn't make him guilty.”

Prosecutors say they now plan to play nearly three hours of video from the on-and-off, 23-hour interrogation, a reversal of their strategy from earlier this summer when they tried to block the defense from playing nearly an hour of the footage. Judge Nicholas Ford, who is presiding over the case, had originally barred the 53 minutes from trial as inadmissible hearsay, drawing the fury of defense attorneys who said they needed that footage to bolster their argument that the confession was coerced.

At a later hearing, prosecutors announced without explanation that they intend to play the entire questioning. Ford consented without mentioning his earlier ruling about hearsay.

Ultimately, Ward’s jury will be tasked with assessing the confession’s credibility and can consider all the circumstances under which it was given, said veteran attorney Robert Loeb.

“The jury will be allowed to consider whether or not its weight should be diminished by a claim of psychological coercion,” said Loeb, who teaches at DePaul University College of Law.

Ward’s confession cannot be used against Williams, who did not make any statements to police after his arrest.

‘Tentative’ identifications

The roots of the shooting at Harsh Park took hold long before Hadiya was killed, prosecutors allege.

Williams and Ward belonged to a gang known as SUWU, which had long been feuding with the 4-6 Terror gang that claimed Harsh Park as its territory, authorities have said.

The factions had been attacking each other in the months before, including a July 2012 incident in which Williams was shot in the arm by members of 4-6 Terror, authorities said. A few months later, the rival gang fatally shot a close friend of Ward’s, according to prosecutors.

The police investigation of Hadiya’s shooting homed in on SUWU, since Harsh Park was known to be a 4-6 Terror hangout.

Two SUWU members, both on probation for gun convictions, gave statements to authorities alleging they joined Ward and Williams in the Nissan the day of the shooting. Ernest Finner and Demetrius Tucker said Williams was acting nervous and told them the two had just done a “drill” — slang for a shooting. Ward became angry and told Williams that he shouldn’t be talking, Finner told authorities.

In a controversial decision, Judge Ford ruled that Ward’s silence in the car amounted to a “tacit admission”of guilt, allowing prosecutors to use the conversation as evidence against Ward — as well as Williams.

Many of the friends who huddled with Hadiya under a canopy at Harsh Park that day gave descriptions to police of the gunman. None identified Ward or Williams, but several eyewitnesses made what prosecutors have characterized as “tentative” identifications, telling authorities that Ward looked similar to the gunman. Prosecutors have been allowed to introduce those tentative identifications at trial.

One former schoolmate, Stephan Abdul, was among those who did not make a concrete identification in 2013. But this March — more than five years later — Abdul viewed a photo of the same lineup during an interview with a Cook County prosecutor and said he was now “100 percent” sure that Ward was the gunman, records show.

Over defense attorneys’ objections, Ford allowed Abdul’s testimony at trial, saying the jury would have to determine his credibility.

Ward’s attorneys, though, have been barred from airing allegations against former Chicago police Detective John Halloran, who years ago worked under disgraced former Cmdr. Jon Burge. The now-retired Halloran, who has been accused of misconduct over the years, was involved in the investigation of Hadiya’s death and took part at length in Ward’s interrogation.

Ward’s defense wanted to bring up those allegations at trial, but Ford prohibited mention of the accusations, noting that Halloran was not the detective who ultimately obtained the confession.

Courtney Pedroza/Chicago Tribune

Cleopatra Pendleton celebrates with Hadiya Pendleton's cousin Aniyah Dixon, 10, as son Nate Pendleton Jr. hugs her after a balloon release on June 2, 2018, in Chicago. The park was filled with people dressed in orange as a tribute to Pendleton and other victims of gun violence.

Cleopatra Pendleton celebrates with Hadiya Pendleton's cousin Aniyah Dixon, 10, as son Nate Pendleton Jr. hugs her after a balloon release on June 2, 2018, in Chicago. The park was filled with people dressed in orange as a tribute to Pendleton and other victims of gun violence. (Courtney Pedroza/Chicago Tribune)

Nagging questions

A day after authorities charged Ward and Williams with murdering Hadiya, her parents sat next to first lady Michelle Obama at the State of the Union address, listening as the president told Congress her family deserved a vote on gun control. It would be the first of many efforts, both large and small, that the Pendletons would make to curb gun violence across the country.

“She loved Fig Newtons and lip gloss,” the president told Congress of Hadiya. “… She was so good to her friends, they all thought they were her best friend.”

Over the next 5½ years, the Pendletons visited the White House several times to support anti-gun violence initiatives, once standing behind Obama in 2016 as he signed an executive order that, among other things, forced more gun sellers to be licensed and to conduct background checks. Cleopatra Pendleton also appeared on stage with a group of mothers at the Democratic National Convention two years ago and made an emotional appeal for gun control.

Back in their hometown, Hadiya’s family and friends have marked her birthday each year with a “party for peace.” Everyone wears orange to the celebration in homage to both the slain teen’s favorite color and the color worn by hunters to prevent accidental shootings. It has evolved into a national movement, with Wear Orange events taking place across the country on June 2, Hadiya’s birthday.

But much work remains.

At least 2,207 people 17 and younger have been shot in Chicago since Hadiya’s slaying, according to a Tribune analysis of crime data. Of those, 267 died from their wounds.

Chicago also just experienced its most violent weekend in more than two years when 74 people were shot, 12 fatally, between 3 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Monday, mostly on the West and South sides. Their ages spanned from 11 to 62 years old.

“The violence that took place last weekend is truly unimaginable,” said Wilks, Hadiya’s cousin. “It’s the sign that there is still much work to be done. But if we have reached just one person and convinced them to put down their gun, the efforts we have made will be worth it.”

Though their anti-violence initiatives have provided solace in the years since Hadiya’s death, family members have repeatedly said they hoped the trial would bring them much-needed closure.

But, whatever the result, the proceedings won’t answer some of their most nagging questions: Where would she have gone to college? What would she have looked like on her prom day? What career path would Hadiya — who would be 21 now and headed into her final year in college — have chosen?

“She had a diverse set of friends and a diverse set of interests,” Wilks said. “She would talk about being an entrepreneur or a teacher or a lawyer — all in the same conversation. What she would have chosen, we’ll never know. So many things about her life and what it could have been will be a mystery forever.”